In an interview with Britain's Financial Times newspaper, Powell said Bush had no intention of pulling back and insisted the newly re-elected president had a mandate to pursue American national interests in international affairs.

"The president is not going to trim his sails or pull back," Powell told the newspaper. "It's a continuation of his principles, his policies, his beliefs."

Powell made no mention of any specific country or region, but said U.S. foreign policy had been "aggressive in terms of going after challenges, issues" and Bush was "going to keep moving in this direction.

While the Bush administration would seek to reach out to the international community and pursue a foreign policy that was "multilateral in nature," Washington would act alone where necessary, the newspaper also reported Powell as saying.

Asked about Middle East conflict, Powell said a transition of power from Yasser Arafat, who is seriously ill in hospital in Paris, could offer a chance to make progress.

"We are ready to seize this opportunity aggressively," he said, but did not elaborate.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is due this week to become the first world leader to hold face-to-face talks with Bush since his re-election last week.

Blair's office has stressed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be top of the agenda after Blair said last week that revitalizing the Middle East peace process was "the single most pressing political challenge in our world today."

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